Right time for game time

The saying in Latin is vive ut vivas — live so that you may live. So it was Wednesday night, when the Bruins played at TD Garden in the first professional sporting event in the city that was rocked two days earlier by the attack at the Boston Marathon finish line in Copley Square.

So it was Wednesday night, when the Bruins played at TD Garden in the first professional sporting event in the city that was rocked two days earlier by the attack at the Boston Marathon finish line in Copley Square.

The NHL quickly postponed Monday night’s Bruins home game and the NBA canceled the Celtics game Tuesday. The moves weren’t done out of fear of another attack — although security was considerably amped up Wednesday — but out of respect to a grieving community, one that was brought to its knees and wasn’t yet ready to get on its feet to cheer a goal or dunk.

It was clear Wednesday night just after 7:30, when the Bruins skated onto the Garden ice before their game with the Buffalo Sabres to the tune of “For Boston,” that the time was right and a community shocked by terror was ready to show it was still a hearty city.

Spectators who had been wanded by security guards on their way into the arena cheered as a video of the first responders ended with the phrase, ‘We Are Boston. We Are Strong.’ Several fans waved American flags.

In a chilling moment, the crowd sang "The Star Spangled Banner," taking over from Natick resident Rene Rancourt after, ‘O, say can you see.’

When the game began, chants of ‘U-S-A’ and ‘We Are Boston’ sprouted from the upper deck and continued all night.

Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who was killed in the attack and attended last Thursday’s Bruins game, was honored outside the Garden. A Bruins T-shirt with the No. 8 and Richard’s name on the back was placed on the Bobby Orr statue.

Players on both teams wore a blue-and-yellow decal — the colors of the Marathon — on their helmets, and coaches and team employees wore a ribbon with the same colors.

The night wasn’t about cheering on a hockey team; it was a city roaring up and coming back more resolute than it was before.

After going through 53 hours of shock, terror and pain that’s never been felt here before, it was time to start trying to feel good about ourselves again.

In a region obsessed with its sports teams, it was fitting that the first time New Englanders came together since the city’s trademark sporting event was defiled came at a hockey game.

Even in normal times, professional sports are a distraction from the headaches of our lives. The first gulp of the elixir that the local teams can provide came in the form of a 2½-hour hockey game Wednesday night.

“The game of hockey is a chance for people to get away from their everyday stresses of work and whatever they have going on at home,” Bruins assistant captain Chris Kelly said Wednesday morning. “If we could give five, 10 minutes of joy or two hours of joy — whatever we can do, we’re willing to do that.”

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The time for mourning and reflection is not over, not by a long shot. The time to move on has begun, though, and the first step was taken with the drop of a puck Wednesday.

It was vive ut vivas. In hockey and in Boston, the saying is much simpler — game on.

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.